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A car bomb exploded in an industrial suburb of Christian east
Beirut, wounding at least eight people and raising fresh fears of a
slide back into Lebanon's violent past.

A prominent anti-Syrian opposition figure, Walid Jumblatt,
blamed the Damascus-backed Lebanese security authorities for the
blast on Saturday, the third in eight days in the Christian
heartland.

Earlier the opposition, which blames Syria and its allies for
the killing of the former prime minister Rafiq Hariri on February
14, had pushed for an international inquiry into his death.

Security sources, who dismissed reports that two people had been
killed in the blast, said a car parked at a repairs shop for some
time had apparently been packed with 25 kilograms of TNT and
exploded in the industrial area in the Dikwanah suburb.

Firefighters battled to contain blazes in two buildings. It was
not immediately known if there were people in the buildings, but
the area - which houses factories, printers, car repair shops and
warehouses - is usually deserted during the night. Most of the
injured were Asian workers.

"All we heard was a big explosion and the windows broke. We
rushed outside and saw flames coming from the buildings," said
Joseph Osabuyos, who lives nearby.

The assassination of Mr Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, has plunged
Lebanon into its biggest political crisis since the end of the
1975-1990 civil war. Syria denies involvement in the
assassination.

"They [Syrian-backed security services] will use all means to
try to destroy national accord," Mr Jumblatt told LBC television.
"It is true that today they are targeting Christian areas but
before that they targeted ... Hariri."

Before the bomb exploded, Mr Jumblatt had urged the
Syrian-backed security chiefs to resign to make way for an
international inquiry into Mr Hariri's killing.

"It is not possible to carry out a just, serious, clear and
transparent investigation if the heads of the agencies remain in
their place," Mr Jumblatt said.

A United Nations fact-finding team said in a report released
last week that Lebanon's own inquiry into Mr Hariri's killing was
seriously flawed and called for an international investigation.

But the report said even an international inquiry was unlikely
to carry out its tasks satisfactorily while the Lebanese security
chiefs remained in their jobs.

Lebanon's Christian opposition echoed Mr Jumblatt's comments in
a statement, saying the report bolstered its repeated calls for an
international inquiry and for security chiefs to go.

Lebanon's pro-Syrian authorities have denounced the UN report
but have agreed to an international investigation.

The Christian opposition also took aim at the pro-Syrian
Government, which stepped down last month under huge world and
domestic pressure.

"The resigned government, especially those ministers charged
with security and judicial affairs, has moved ... to the position
of accused because of its direct political responsibility," it said
in a statement.

The United States and France are expected to introduce a new
resolution calling for an international inquiry after the report
found Syrian military intelligence responsible for lack of security
and Lebanese security showed "systematic negligence".